What Do Facial Features Reveal?

“[Facial features] can tell you about character, the past, present, and the future,” says Ting-Foon Chik, a Chinese astrologer. He asserts that people read faces on a daily basis on a subconscious level. We judge the tiredness of someone’s eyes, the tightness or fullness of their lips, in order to gain some idea of who they are before actually getting to know them. Even in movies. we see the old woman with tight lips cast as the bitter, mean person, and the young man with full lips and big, bright eyes as the sensual character. Many factors determine the outcome of a face reading, some regarding the most obvious features of a face--eyes, nose, mouth--and some less conspicuous, like facial shape and forehead size.

According to SoFeminine, large eyes indicate intellectual curiosity, a vivid imagination, and hyper-sensitivity. Author of “The Wisdom of Your Face” and “The Wisdom of Your Child’s Face,” Jean Haner says that eyes that slant down show pessimism and dishonesty. Chik says that clear, bright eyes often mean that a person is healthy, whereas dim, tired eyes can indicate a health problem. SoFeminine says that, in contrast to large eyes, small eyes can show organization and occasional close-mindedness. Haner says that over-plucked eyebrows show suppressed rage.

While Chik says that large noses indicate good health, SoFeminine argues that a long nose shows decisiveness, an idealistic mind and bossiness. They also say that a short nose shows kindness and sensitivity, and a Roman nose can be found on a person who judges everything by appearance and who either loves or hates other people, without much room in the middle. Haner says a spiritually sensitive person will often have a bony nose.

According to Haner, full lips and a large mouth show emotional availability and a sensitive nature. SoFeminine says that full lips indicate a confident, spontaneous, risk-taker, and according to Chik, show a charming nature. Haner also argues that an upper lip much thinner than a bottom lip can signal hedonism and unfaithfulness in a person, while SoFeminine argues that thin lips indicate a “measured and selective” person who appreciates subtlety. Chik says that thin lips belong to argumentative people.

A large forehead, according to SoFeminine, shows an uncanny ability to learn and digest information and a lack of risk-taking, whereas Chik says that a large forehead indicates a person who had a happy childhood. As for a smaller forehead, SoFeminine says this shows a person who “act[s] first and think[s] afterwards,” and an average forehead means you’re intelligent and able to see two sides to every story.

Chik defines several different facial shapes. He says that a round-faced person is sympathetic but also strives for power and money. Ambition and long thin faces go hand in hand. A pointed chin can show a fiery personality. A large face can indicate a calm person with secrets and some aggression. SoFeminine says a round face shows an open, flexible person who reveres optimism. An oval-shaped face shows calmness and a tendency to hide emotions from others. A hollow face reveals independence, pessimism and sincerity. Haner says that a hollow face can reveal sensitivity.